Sunday week 33 review: Napoli down Inter

Napoli 1-0 Inter Milan
Napoli breathed new life into the Scudetto race by downing Inter on Sunday night. A buzzing San Paolo. Napoli were understandably cautious going into this one, but they had a positive start to the game and attempted to put Inter on the back foot. Ezequiel Lavezzi had a number of long range efforts early on that although were a positive signal of intent, did little to trouble Julio Cesar. But, it was Inter who should have been one up early on as Navarro saved well from Walter Samuel. Napoli perhaps should have challenged Inter again in the first half when Lavezzi threaded through to Hamsik, but the Slovakian just failed to make contact with the ball. After the restart Patrick Viera had a chance to test Navaro from the edge of the area as the play opened up, but his effort was tame. The pressure was mounting on Napoli as the atmosphere inside the stadium was reaching boiling point. Ibrahimovic lined up a freekick from all of 35 yards, and Navaro just got a touch on a powerful low drive to turn it around the post. Against the run of play at this moment in the game, it was Napoli that took the lead. Lavezzi played an excellent through ball to Zalayeta who fired a drive home with the outside of his boot from the edge of the box. Cesar did not even move such was the precision of the strike. Cruz replaced Viera soon after, but it made little difference as Napoli wrapped up the win.

AC Milan 3-0 Palermo
Milan continued their excellent run of form with a comfortable win over an in form Palermo side, although not without controversy. After just ten minutes Milan were in the lead thanks to a precise Kaka penalty as Ambrosini was brought down in the area. Kaka was in red hot form, and thanks in part to him Milan doubled their lead. Kaka played a clever ball from the edge of the area to Ambrosini who chipped into the six yard box for the evergreen Inzaghi who scored again after an inspirational hatrick last week against Torino. Soon after the restart it was all over for Palermo, as they were reduced to ten men. Cesare Bovo was turned inside out by Kaka, and brought him down for his second yellow card of the match. It was not long before it was 3-0 to Milan, as Kaka again was brough down in the area although replays showed that it was rather soft to say the least. Kaka converted straight down the middle, and wrapped up the three points.

Lazio 0-1 Atalanta
After fantastic wins over Roma, Genoa and Juventus Lazio played their usual trick and blew it again against midtable opposition in front of their own fans. Atalanta set out very defensively for this encounter, leaving little space for Lazio to find their usual passing lanes. Instead it was Atalanta that opened the scoring after Talamonti headed home after the ball was played into the area. There was little urgency from Lazio for virtually the whole game, perhaps due to the midweek clash with Juventus. Pasquale Foggia had a chance later on in the first half after his initial effort was blocked, but he drilled powerfully over the bar. Mauro Zarate nearly leveled with another highlight reel goal as he carresed the ball from the left hand side of the area towards the far post, but it fell just wide. After the break it was more of the same. Lazio kept possession well, but could not open up the Atalanta back line which was virtually ten players deep. Rocchi had a chance to level the tie but he fired his effort straight at Consigli. Stefan Radu was introduced for Kolarov, and he nearly made an impact as he fired a strong drive on the volley but Consigli held on well. This game was a total let down for Lazio fans like myself, we needed a win to climb up the table to a position that is worthy of the Aquilotti but again failed to take that chance. Europe is a must for a club like Lazio, so the Coppa Italia becomes a must win encounter on May 13th.

Elsewhere in Serie A on Sunday
Juventus blew any chance they had of catching Inter after failing to win deep down south in Reggina in a 2-2 draw. The home side lead twice in this match as they seek to avoid relegation, but Zanetti leveled late on to save face for Juventus as they look now to cement third place. Genoa made live hard for themselves again as they lost to Bologna 2-0, as Marco Di Vaio took his lead in the top scorers title. Lecce, another struggler, beat a travel sick Catania 2-1 whilst Torino also kept their head above water by scraping past Siena thanks to a superb Rolando Bianchi goal as the former Man City man continues his great form. But perhaps the game of the day was reserved for the Sampdoria faithful in Genoa as they drew 3-3 with Cagliari. Having a 2-0 lead at half time was not enough for cup finalists Sampdoria to take three points as Cagliari's young guns in Matri and Aquafresca put them into the lead only for Cassano to volley a late leveller for the Blucerchiati to take a point and continue their fine second half of the season.

Image: Steindy